Holiday Catch-up

"Remember when you used to have a blog? That was cool." A none-too-subtle nudge from a friend.

Admittedly, it has been a while. Due to various factors (work, vacation, work, holidays), I haven't made time to bake. So I did have some catching up to do. I owed November and December desserts. To get all caught up, I came up with the idea to bake four different kinds of cookies to fill four tins...one to November, one to December, and the last two designated for elsewhere. Of course, after formulating this grand plan, I could not find the recipes I had not-quite-so-meticulously-kept and had to rely on what I could find on t3h Internets. From the bottom left, going clockwise, we have ANZAC biscuits (I'd been calling them "New Zealand Biscuits" all my life because that was the name on the recipe. Turns out, there's quite an interesting story that goes with these cookies), cornflake cookies (my mom's recipe is a bit easier to work with but these produced ok results), black & white sugar cookies (I didn't get them quite checkered) and hazelnut shortbread (I rolled out and cut into Christmas tree shapes; recipe here). I did eventually find the recipe I'd copied from my aunt's cookbook for the ANZAC biscuits, but not till after I'd baked the batch. A difference in technique produced the rock-like lumps I made, instead of the thin crunchiness of my childhood. I'll definitely have to make these again. I'm still looking for the cornflake cookie recipe.

For this year's Christmas dessert, I decided to revisit the Bûche de Noël (a.k.a. the Yule Log). I made one some years back but it broke while I was rolling it, and after trimming the ends and sticking them on in what I thought was a branch-like configuration, I ended up with something more akin to a big, chocolate X. I was not going to repeat the "Christmas X".

This time around, I made sure to glue one of the trimmings on top of the log (instead of both trimmings flat on the cake board on either side of the main log). I also got a chocolate snow person to help ensure there would be no mistaking this for anything other than a yule log. The genoise broked again as I was rolling it, and the runny-until-you-chill-it raspberry filling didn't really help the log hold its shape. So this year, it's a Christmas plank. I'll get it right eventually. It's my New Year's resolution to bake several Swiss rolls throughout this year to get the hang of rolling.

I received a 12" cast iron skillet for Christmas. I have been coveting one for quite some time now. Granted, I did ask for it. But I'd forgotten I'd asked for it, so it was quite a nice surprise (^_^)